380 Legends of the Saurashtra group [Mat, 



feudal chiefs of the country ; a designation entirely new in Indian 

 numismatics, and leading to a highly interesting train of reflection, to 

 which I must presently recur. Sometimes the epithet Mahd is 

 affixed — not to raja, but to Krttrima, as Raja mahd Kntrima, the 

 ' great or special elected king' — as if in these cases he had been 

 the unanimous choice of his people, while in the others he was 

 installed merely by the stronger party in the state. 



In every instance but one, the raja is stated to be the son of a raja ; 

 and it is quite natural to expect that a prince, unless he were very 

 unpopular, would have influence to secure the succession in his own 

 family. In the case forming the exception to this rule, the raja is the 

 son of a Swdmin or Swdmi, a general term for brahman or religious 

 person. I have therefore placed him at the head of the line, although 

 it does not follow that in an elective government the regular succes- 

 sion may not have been set aside in favor of an influential commoner. 



Among all the coins hitherto examined nine varieties only have 

 been discovered. Of these several can be traced from father to son 

 in regular succession. — Others again spring from the same father, 

 as if brothers had succeeded, in default of heirs direct, or from voluntary 

 supercession ; but we know that in Indian families the same names 

 frequently recur in the same order of filiation ; so that unless ac- 

 companied by a date it is quite impossible to decide whether the 

 individuals are the same in every case of similar names. 



The features on the obverse might serve as a guide in many cases, 

 for they (as 1 have before remarked) are executed with a skill and 

 delicacy quite Grecian ; but it will be seen below that I doubt their 

 representing the individual named on the reverse. 



I have lithographed in Plate XXIV. the several varieties of legend, 

 as corrected and classified, after careful examination of Mr. Steuart's 

 plates, with all the coins in our respective cabinets, as well as the 

 sketches I have been favored with of others by Mr. Wathen. I have not 

 time to engrave the coins themselves, of which indeed the former plate 

 will give a clear idea, for they are all the same in size and appearance, 

 varying a little in the countenance of the prince. Their average weight 

 is about thirty grains, agreeing in this respect with the korees mention- 

 ed by Hamilton as struck in Cutch, four to a rupee, by the Raos and 

 Jams of Noanagar, with Hindu! characters*. 



Legend, No. 1. Of this there are four examples in Mr. Steuart's 

 plate. I had one from Mr. WathenI, which passed into Captain 

 CuNNiNGHAM'spossession by exchange. — Adding the matras or vowels, 



* Hamilton's Hindostan, I. 654. f Found by Captain PaEscoTTin Guzerat. 



